1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a device for ventilating, heating and air-conditioning a passenger compartment of a motor vehicle.
The invention relates more particularly to a device for ventilating, heating and air-conditioning a passenger compartment of a motor vehicle, of the type provided with inside and outside air intake orifices for the passenger compartment of the vehicle and at least one air intake conduit associated with the said orifices, which conduit supplies at least one main fan, which forces an intake air stream through at least one heat exchanger toward a distributor, whose outlets are connected by ducts to associated vents, distributed throughout the passenger compartment, for delivery of air, and of the type provided with means for actuation of the main fan, exchanger and distributor, which means make it possible to blow delivery air streams of variable flowrate and temperature selectively into the zones of the passenger compartment.
2. Discussion of the Background
There are known numerous devices for ventilating, heating and air-conditioning designed to blow air streams at diverse temperatures and in diverse zones of the passenger compartment of a motor vehicle.
Most such devices are disposed between the dashboard and the engine compartment of the vehicle, and are provided with a fan which draws air either from outside or from inside the vehicle, then directs it to a heating radiator which uses the cooling fluid of the internal combustion engine, or to a cooling exchanger. The air heated or cooled in this way is then directed by the distributor and a system of ducts to diverse points of the passenger compartment in accordance with the needs of the passengers. These ducts discharge directly into adequate vents of the dashboard to ensure the comfort of the front passengers and at the bottom of the windshield to ensure defrosting thereof, or are prolonged to the rear of the vehicle, generally hidden among the interior furnishing elements such as the central bracket or the door sill moldings.
A problem arises when considerations of roominess and esthetics dictate that these ducts must not encroach on the habitable interior space.
A first type of solution comprises constructing devices which are provided with ducts hidden among the structural elements of the vehicle, such as the bottom of the vehicle body or other elements of the substructure.
U.S. Pat. No. A 2,696,774 describes such an arrangement.
In this case, the air is first drawn at the front of the vehicle then conveyed partly to an air conditioner via tubular cavities comprising part of the vehicle structure. Other zones of these same tubular cavities allow the heated or cooled air to be conveyed to the places of the rear passengers.
This solution is not satisfactory, however, because the temperature variations associated with heat exchanges between the walls of structural elements and the outside atmosphere greatly reduce the efficiency of the installation.
Another type of solution is introduced by the devices for which air originating from the distributor is conveyed in inlaid ducts of rectangular cross section and small thickness hidden among the trim of the floorboard of the vehicle.
European Patent EP A 0210548 describes such a device.
This device considerably reduces the exchanges of heat with the outside atmosphere, but it can be applied only to mid-sized vehicles, because long ducts cannot be applied to a vehicle of the monospace type having both great length and large inside volume, since the pressure losses in the ducts are too large.
In the monospace case it is possible to adopt an architecture of the device for ventilating, heating and air-conditioning the passenger compartment that uses the cavities of the vehicle structure to convey air to the front passengers, to the rear passengers and to the windows, thus making it possible to consider an intermediate longitudinal position for the device. The outlets of the distributor of the device can therefore be connected to different cavities of the vehicle structure to which the distributor is attached.
European Patent EP B1 0503987 describes such a device.
This device solves the problem of pressure losses, but it still suffers from exchanges of heat with the outside atmosphere. To overcome this, it is necessary to overdimension the exchangers and the fan, leading to a considerable disadvantage for a device which is supposed instead to occupy a minimum space on one of the sides of the vehicle, so that it can be housed in an intermediate longitudinal position, for example in a housing close to one of the vehicle posts, without encroaching on the habitable interior space.
To overcome these disadvantages, the invention proposes a device of the type described hereinabove, characterized in that the distributor is arranged transversely in central position and longitudinally behind a row of seats, and in that the outlets of the distributor are disposed in the floor structure of the vehicle.
According to other characteristics of the invention:
the distributor is provided with a case, in an upper face of which there are disposed the outlets, to which there are connected the different ducts for delivery of air into the passenger compartment of the vehicle;
the case of the distributor is part of a unit, which is provided with a heat exchanger for heating and a heat exchanger for cooling;
the unit is provided with means which ensure that different mixtures of the air stream can be achieved and channeled to the distributor, to be blown simultaneously and independently through the different outlets of the distributor;
the unit is provided with the main fan, one inlet of which permits intake of the air and one interior outlet on the unit forces an air stream through a heating exchanger and/or a cooling exchanger;
the intake conduits and the air delivery ducts are fixed on the inside walls of the passenger compartment of the vehicle and/or are integrated into the interior trim elements of the vehicle, especially the floor carpets and the interior furnishing elements;
the air intake conduit is provided with a vertical segment which is connected to an outside air intake orifice disposed under the windshield of the vehicle, and a horizontal segment equipped with inside air intake orifices, which segment extends longitudinally close to the longitudinal central axis of the vehicle and is connected to the fan inlet;
the air delivery ducts are provided with two ducts, right and left respectively, for distributing air to the legs of the front passengers, which ducts are provided successively with horizontal segments extending longitudinally between the distributor and the vehicle dashboard, on the respective two sides of the central longitudinal axis of the vehicle, and which discharge into two vents, right and left respectively, for delivery of air to the legs of the front passengers, which vents are oriented vertically downward at right angles to the feet of the passengers;
the air delivery ducts are provided with at least one central duct, which delivers air to the legs of the rear passengers and is oriented along the central longitudinal axis of the vehicle;
the air delivery ducts are provided with two ducts, right and left respectively, for lateral and upward distribution of air, which ducts are provided successively with two opposite horizontal segments extending transversely, two segments extending vertically along the side posts of the passenger compartment of the vehicle and provided with right and left side vents disposed along the side posts, and two segments extending longitudinally along the sides of the roof of the vehicle and provided with side vents disposed on the sides of the roof of the vehicle;
the air delivery ducts are provided with two horizontal ducts, right and left respectively, for distribution of air toward the front, which ducts are provided with segments extending longitudinally between the distributor and the vehicle dashboard while following the central axis of the vehicle, and which are connected in the lower zone of the dashboard to a device for front air distribution;
the front air distribution device is actuated by means for actuating the ventilating, heating and air-conditioning device, and it is provided with at least one shutter which distributes the air between a single defrosting duct, with which there is associated an auxiliary electric fan to force a stream of air through an electric defrosting radiator toward defrosting vents disposed along the windshield of the vehicle, and between two independent transverse ducts, right and left respectively, for ventilation for the front passengers, each of which transverse ducts discharges into two blower vents situated at mid-height of the dashboard on each side of the right and left front passengers.